Reviews (31)

Great book!
Bill Waterson is argudably one of the best comic writers out there. Even through his retirement, he has made great books of past comics featuring his Calvin and Hobbes characters. I laugh and laugh at these comics he creates and I sometimes wonder how he comes up with such brilliant ideas sometimes with the storylines of some of the strips.

Calvin, one of his best known characters, is the trouble-making kid in the school. He is funny and imaginative and likes to make funa and games with his "real" pet friend Hobbes. Through the comics, you can see the relationship between a stuffed animal and a human.

In this comic though, Hobbes "comes to life" in Calvins eyes. The things that Calvin can sometimes get involved in is so hilarious and sometimes out of this world.

I guarantee that anyone that loves comics will fall in love with this one and should definitely buy this book to start their collection of classic comics.

All of Bill Waterson's comic books are very well done and very professional. His work is his life and it shows the time and consideration it took to make these characters come to life. Thank you Mr. Waterson for creating such a great comic and thatnk you people for reading my review!

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection is not only a real good book, but it also had me rolling on my sides with laughter. One reason it is my favorite book is because it is REAL funny. Calvin and his stuffed tiger get into so many adventures, all having a humorous twist at the end. Another reason that I liked the book is because it interests me. Every comic strip I read, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The last reason I favor The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection is because it inspired me to start animating cartoons and comic strips. In this book I saw different types of cartooning that I liked. I am glad that I had chance to read The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection I can't wait to read more!

Another anthology of laughter
Whether the collection is the "Indispensible" or "Essential" or "Quintessential" Calvin and Hobbes, it doesn't really matter. Watching this hyperactive, hyperimaginative child and his willing though wise accomplice, Hobbes, take on evil babysitters, Susie Derkins, the class bully and all creatures (real or imaginary), is a pleasure and laughter without stop. "The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes" is another in a long list of the great comic work of Bill Watterson. This is an indispensible/essential/quintessential collection for all Calvin and Hobbes and humor fans!

Authoritative! What else can I say?
Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this treasury of C&H comics. These witty comics about the 6-year old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, named after the famous philosophers, will amuse people of all ages. The perceptiveness and humor of Watterson deserve the highest of cartoon awards, while his artistic creations exude hilarity. This cartoon is perhaps one of the most piercing yet funny critiques of modern society.

This book starts out with Calvin Transmogrifying himself into an elephant so he can memorize his vocabulary in a snap. Naturally, that leads to never-ending funny adventures to entertain adults as well as children. Here we enjoy Calvin playing croquet with Hobbes, their flying carpet adventures, snowballs against Susie, and Spaceman Spiff. Watch him play pilot, archaeologist, annoy Rosalyn the babysitter, and quarrel with Hobbes over the treehouse.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there's 10 regular books and 5 treasury books. Though the cartoons are slightly smaller in the treasury collection, each treasury book is far thicker and contains more strips than a regular book, and is furthermore less expensive, so treasury books are a real bargain. "The Authoritative Calvin & Hobbes" belongs to the Treasury collection, and was first released in 1990.

Watterson, a man for all seasons
It is my feeling that Bill Watterson had enough integrity and ethics to prevent the syndicate from cranking out endless meaninglessly repetitive compilations. Of course, he did quit partly because he was becoming disgusted with many of the commercial aspects of his work. With most comics, even good ones, the collections get stale after a few. Watterson's collections dont. There are a dozen or so C&H compilations/collections, but you wont be dissapointed with owning the whole shebang, especially since Watterson frequently did a lot of extra work to ensure that each collection had something new to offer. Even without this extra stuff, Watterson's body of work is extensive enought to warrant owning all these collections. He was steadily cranking out great material for a decade or so, and if you are like me you will be reading some C&H weekly for as long as you are on this earth, so tons of books is not a bad thing. Basically, I wholeheartedly reccomend all the books. If you like one you will like them all. They only get better as you get to know the characters. Watterson never goes for the cheap laugh by having any of the comic's principals act out of character. As you progress through the years with C&H, and I do reccomend reading them in order, you will see how art progresses and grows when the artist is committed to excellent work. So, go get the first one, titled simply Calvin & Hobbes, and then start down the enjoyable road to making Calvin and his tiger a pleasant little chunk of your life. (Yes, i have repeated this review for every C&H book I own, wich is all of them, so get used to seeing all this anytime you look one of them up) ... Read more

Book Description

Cobra - an extremist militia dedicated to the violent overthrow of the American government. G.I. Joe - an elite anti-terrorist squad created to protect the country from Cobra. The Transformers - sentient, shape-shifting robots from the distant planet Cybertron, embroiled in a civil war between the benign Autobots and the conquest-minded Decepticons. Only a conflict that threatens two worlds could bring these disparate groups together! When Cobra Commander tries to use hyper-advanced Cybertronian teleportation technology for his terrorist activities, a malfunction of epic proportions occurs. The super computer that controls the teleportation gate scatters several Transformers into the time stream, marooning them at various points in Earth's history. If the time-tossed robots are not rescued, temporal feedback will unleash a firestorm that will rage throughout history, utterly destroying the planet. Meanwhile, on Cybertron, the evil Shockwave plots the ascension of the Decepticons! Only by allying with Cobra and the mysterious Transformers can G.I. Joe avert a disaster that could consume two worlds. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

THE SEQUEL SURPASSES THE ORIGINAL
This story takes places two years after the events in G.I. Joe Vs. Transformers Volume one.The Transformers have returned to Cyberton where the Autobots are stunned to see that Shockwave has gained control of Cyberton and the Autobots are now on the run from his forces.Back on Earth, the Cobra Commander has a secret Cybertronian technology ace up his sleeve...namely Starscream who was still held on Earth.Cobra Commander approaches Destro with a plan to use the Cybertronian technology to open a wormhole to the Transformers world and take control of the supercomputer Teletran 3.With this they can control Cyberton and steal more technology and use it to create wormholes all throughout the Earth to deliver weapons without being caught.The G.I. Joe team learns of the plot due to a well-placed spy, and tries to stop Cobra but when a stray bullet causes a malfunction in Teletran 3, all Hell breaks loose.

Teletran 3 scatters numerous Transformers throughout Earth's timestream and uses it's camouflage mode to lock the robots into vehicle mode that is appropriate to whatever time period they landed in.Worse yet, the upheaval of the time stream will result in holocaust for the planet Earth unless the Transformers can be recovered and returned to Cybertron within 12 hours.While Ultra Magnus keeps Shockwave and his forces at bay with an energy field, the Cobra and G.I. Joe members must now form an uneasy alliance to travel into the timestream to return the missing Transformers before the world is destroyed.

The teams split into four groups with one group going to 1970's era California complete with pimp daddies and big cadillacs, while another group ends up in mobster infested Chicago of the mid 1930's.The most interesting scenario is the group that journeys to an Earth 15 years in the future in a post-apocalyptic where Shockwave has led a successful invasion of Earth and humans are enslaved.Duke, now severely battle-scarred leads a resistance that includes former Dreadnok members and they are aided by a champion Autobot who will come as a bit of a surprise.The fourth group?Well, telling you where they end up would be giving too much away but the payoff is well worth it once you read the story.

As Shockwave has always been my favorite Transformer I loved to see him front and center as the main antagonist.This cold, mechanical Decepticon was always far more appealing than the melodramatic Megatron.It was also interesting to see the Joes and Cobra forced to call a truce and work together.I especially liked the Baroness and Roadblock teaming together in the 1930's.Unfortunately these segments are relatively short and it would have been great to see more interplay between the two rival groups.If there is one minor complaint it's that the whole story is a bit contrived and things happen just to happen without much logic.That aside, this was a very strong sequel to the first book and I think it was even better due mainly to Shockwave's involvement as well as another group of Transformers who I will leave as a surprise.. The art by E.J. Su and Tim Seeley was fantastic and their vision of the future, Decepticon-controlled Earth was truly chilling.Well done!

Reviewed by Tim Janson
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Book Description

In the funniest dog cartoon book ever, beloved New Yorker cartoonist Leo Cullum pokes gentle fun at the foibles and eccentricities of cavorting canines and their human owners. Or is it the dogs who are in charge?

As his enchanted fans well know, Cullum's dogs are an eclectic and enterprising lot. They are lawyers and doctors and businessmen, and more than a few like to sit in bars and debate the predicaments of life. Whether they portray a confounded dog therapy patient searching for the reason he is barking, or an exasperated dog humoring his human owner's need to keep throwing a stick for him to fetch, the 125 laugh-out-loud cartoons in this book tell us almost as much about people as they do about dogs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not just for dog lovers
This book is a wonderful gift book . It's a beautiful book besides being totally hilarious. It's more about life than it is about dogs and very, very funny! ... Read more

Book Description

History will never forget the Kahleefornia recall debacle, which jerk-pressed Arnold "the Gropenfuhrer" Schwarzenegger to a position of power, despite the unexplained existence of dozens of women claiming to have been sexually assaulted by him. Among the hundreds of also-rans and also-almost-rans are Zonker Harris and his mom. While some in the Doonesbury universe seek office, others serve. Alex and her Seattle co-hordes devote their young, restless, and body-pierced Deaniac energy to hooking up "flash art" with politics. Half a world away in Iraq, a major bad boy from stateside devotes himself to liberating the city of Al Amok, ruling with a steady hand, a full glass, a devoted Chinese handler, and an economy based on looting. As fate would have it, B.D. finds himself heading upriver on an apocalyptic mission to terminate Al Duke with extreme prejudice, a story line so made-for-TV that B.D. feels compelled to bang out the screenplay on his laptop in real time. Fortunately for the man known to Honey as "sir," the media red-lights the hit, though car bombers quickly pick up the option and put the project back in play. In the homeland, a wartime president has the answer to almost all the questions ("9-11") but tries to shelve the still incomplete story of his own National Guard duty back in the daze. Mark and Zonk join the war against trash politics by offering a $10,000 reward for any witness who can collaborate the flightsuit-in-chief's account, but their efforts, alas, come to naught. Yes, it's a divided nation. On the west coast sexual assault charges accompany a rise to power, while back east they mandate a fall: Walden College's acting coach, Boopstein, lets accusations of way-personal fouls force her football team off the field. Sex parties for recruits? "Who knew we were that competitive?" marvels President King, ending Boopsie's gridiron apprenticeship with two little words: "You're fired." ... Read more

Book Description

In Random Acts of Management, cartoonist Scott Adams offers sardonic glimpses once again into the lunatic office life of DILBERT, Dogbert, Wally, and others, as they work in an all-too-believably ludicrous setting filled with incompetent management, incomprehensible project acronyms, and minuscule raises. Everyone, it seems, identifies with DILBERT, who struggles to navigate the constant tribulations of absurd company policies and idiot management strategies. Syndicated since 1989, DILBERT appears in more than 1,900 newspapers in fifty-seven countries. DILBERT also appears in his own weekly television show, and on calendars, greeting cards, and Dilberitos.

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Reviews (13)

Not as good as some other books from Adams, but still great.
Somehow, as soon as you start to think Dilbert is dying and few new ideas are coming around to Scott Adams, he creates another succesful collection of hilarious comics. And while it's not as great as some other efforts, this is still a good buy. Any kind of Dilbert comics you want are in here, whether it be about secretaries, interns, strange, bizarre, or anoying co-workers, and anything else you might want.

Dilbert May Be Running Out of Gas
I think this compilation of Dilbert strips from 1998 and 1999 show that Scott Adams is running out of funny ideas. I haven't laughed much at Dilbert the last couple of years and this collection confirms that. I have been a big fan of Dilbert since the early 90's, but I think Scott Adams' dependence on reader input for ideas instead of those generated from his own corporate experiences (he quit his job several years ago) is starting to drag the strip down. I also think Mr. Adams' is spending too much time on the business side of Dilbert (TV shows, product marketing) to give the strip the attention it needs. I hope that he'll remember what got him where he is today and focus his energy on his comic strip in the future. If you've got all the books, get it, but if you want some laughs, try some of the earlier Dilbert compilation books instead.

The Way Dilbert Should Be
I've grown up with Dilbert and belive me when I say this stuff is great. My favorite character is definetly Wally because he's so lazy. The Dlibert books are great and they always make me laugh. I have 11 Dilbert books and I really can't say I dislike any of them. A great deal for you money and one of the best Dilbert books.

real good
this is about the 4 or 5 best dilbert book i own. i own about 13 books, but all get 5 stars!

Par for the course.
What can I say? It's a Dilbert book; if you like Dilbert, you'll like it. If you don't, you won't. It isn't the best Dilbert book out there, but it's not the worst, either. (And of course, for those of us who like it, even the worst Dilbert book is worth reading.) It's good, chuckle-producing fun, but not rolling-on-the-floor laughing fun. ... Read more

Book Description

Created by Kenturo Miura, Berserk is manga mayhem to the extreme - violent, horrifying, and mercilessly funny - and the wellspring for the internationally popular anime series. Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Berserk asks for no quarter - and offers none! His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Best Manga series EVER!
After recently finishing the anime series I went and baught the manga. And man does the manga kick ass. It's ten times better then the anime. PLus it's more violent too. This manga is slightly different then the series such as the Fairy Puck who never showed up in the anime.

Over all this is one of those mangas were you'll be like "aww man what next what next!!". I personaly love the manga...alot.S

Sadly When I asked the person at the comic/manga store about when volumes 13-ect ect would come out in the US...I asked him this cause I really wanted to know what happend after episode 25 of the anime. Sadly he told me it would be about 4 to 5 years by the time volumes 14 through on and on would come out here. Sadly There are only Volumes 1-3 out.
But luckily I got to go to AnimeExpo 2004 and they had all the volumes and they were only 5 BUCKS!! So I baught a few of em' even though they were in japanes but hey I know japanes so I don't need to worry about it. And from going to Volume 13 I can def tell you this manga is for MATURE AUDIENCES especcially how Caskas rape is much more graphic in the manga then the anime.

But thats Not the point here. Overall Volume 1 of berserk is (excuse me for this) F-d up big time and awesome too. This series is just Brilliant and very very cool especially the plot with a new Behiret. The manga is a def must buy for Berserk fans.

I am on voume 14 of the manga right now and alot of things have happend.

For one I can tell you is that Caska is now insain (literally)
Caska gives birth to a demon child! If you see something grotesque on the floor in volume 1 when Guts is in that prison thats Caska's child if You Didn't know. And that's all I can tell you. And in volumes 13 you finally see how Guts and Caska escaped that "Hell" they were in.

So far this is shaping up to be the BestManga series ever.
Once you finish volume 1 go and immediatly buy voulme 2. 2 is sooooo much more better and more action too. And Guts fights that giant worm that rickert saw in the anime and that Pipin got cut in half with in the Manga.

Put simply this series ROCKS

GET IT! NOW!!!

Later

Unaltered Perfection
Berserk finally comes to America and it is almost completely unaltered (except for the English translation of course). I was fearing that the Berserk manga would have its sound effects translated but, thankfully, that is not the case. I, personally, hate the sound effects being translated. Unfortunately, from reading the other reviews, I am not in the majority. The biggest problem with translating sound effects is that you have to erase part of the picture. Just flip through a copy of GTO by TOKYOPOP to see what I am talking about. In order to erase the Japanese characters, they erase huge chunks of the picture. This is my biggest gripe with the GTO manga and I feel as if I am not getting the most orignal form of the manga as possible. Not translating the dialogue also cuts costs, as another reviewer noted. I am also waiting for anime companies to realize fans want the most unaltered forms of their favorite anime and stop wasting time and money creating English dubbed language tracks that inflate the price of anime videos. I think the perfect solution is for readers of manga to learn the measley 46 Katakana characters that make up the majority of Japanese sound effects. Another solution is to write the English translation for the soundeffects within the Japanese sound effects when they are big, which is also found in GTO. For smaller sound effects, put them around the Japanese sound effects or outside the panel. Whatever the solution, keep the original artwork and sound effects untouched!

Berserk kick @$$ series
Ordered this book last week, after hearing about it. I own the box set of the first 6 dvds and had to have more. I have yet to read this book, and will post an update when I do so. The one thing I do want to comment on is the condition I got the book in. I am still tempted to send it back, it arrived today with a huge bend right down the middle. I for one like my collections in mint condition.

On a side not, the box set is a must own. I know I won't be let down by the books.

Just about the best manga series I've ever read...
The detail of the drawings is magnificient. The story is well thought out and fascinating. The characters are complex and thoroughly developed. And, there's true suspense--bad things happen to good people and good things happen too--in this extra dark story you never really know where it's going till after it gets there.

Most mangas I read for 'fun'--the story is predictable & the characters are 2-D but it's cute or pretty, entertainment popcorn if you will. This one, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter in the story and I truly care about the characters. In a vast manga collection, this one is a standout.

Berserk isn't for everyone. The violence quotient is off the scale and all of it is depicted in full detail--the squeamish should avoid this title like the plague. It's also not a manga for the impatient. It's nearly three volumes in before the story proper starts to unfold. It is all eventually tied together so that the plot and character decisions make sense--but readers have to spend a good long time wandering about in the dark before that happens.

If you're tired of boyscout heroes and you're always looking for something new and different, Berserk is a must read. Words can not describe the brilliance that is this manga. Best just read it yourself, or watch the anime, which is very similar--it just moves along a lot faster at the expense of some of the details found in the comic.

FYI: Berserk is up to 25 volumes in Japanese and the story is still on going. Many of the major plotlines are still unresolved, so the series could still go off track in the later chapters--but through volume 25 it's very good.

Dark Horse's edition had perfectly decent translations. Not translating the sound effects was a little cheap, but I don't think it made much difference. Most of the sounds you could guess from context anyway.

Great comic, but some problems with the production
Like most of the previous reviewers, I picked this book up after having seen the anime, so my overall positive impression was of course pre-shaped to some degree. On other sites I've read a few semi-negative reviews by people who HAVEN'T seen the anime--these reviewers complained that the main character Guts is never fleshed out as a character sufficiently for the reader to feel like rooting for him, but rather is presented as little more than a self-centered thug who hunts the monstrous "apostles" for reasons which remain impenetrable. Based solely on this first volume, I can see what they mean--in fact, this was very much my own response to the first episode of the anime. However, I would strongly recommend that readers entirely new to the material stick with it for at least another volume or two before passing judgement, as the story becomes infinitely more complex and nuanced as the backstory is filled in and you get why things are the way they are (and Guts is the way he is) as the book begins.

A couple of other things to be aware of if ordering this book sight-unseen: Dark Horse has printed Berserk in the original Japanese format, with the pages reading right-to-left and back-to-front. While some readers do find this annoying, I had no problem adjusting to it, and ultimately I found I actually preferred it for various reasons. What I DID find annoying, however, was that they translated the text but not the sound effects. I understand this is a cost-cutting measure--normally the sound effects must be laboriously redrawn in English, and this costs $$ in production. However, in many cases the sound effects are an integral part of the storytelling--some sequences don't entirely make sense without them (such as the opening sequence of Berserk). So while I'm happy this is a cheaper-than-average graphic novel as it is, I'd personally be willing to pay a few extra dollars per volume if it meant having a more complete translation. A high-quality book like this really deserves the full treatment. ... Read more

Book Description

From the creator of Babylon 5 and Jeremiah comes the greatest superhero epic in recent years! J. Michael Straczynski and a team of the best and brightest artistic talents in the industry unite to tell the saga of 113 strangers united by one event they will never forget. This super-hero tour-de-force is collected, beginning to end, in one massive bookshelf volume. Follow the super-powered "Pederson Specials" as they grow up, live, love, die, and ultimately try to save the world. One of the greatest comic series ever is now available for your bookshelf! ... Read more

Book Description

On the comics scene of late, Get Fuzzy has made the fur fly.Now syndicated in more than 175 newspapers, this freshly amusing strip has rapidly become the new darling among readers who enjoy pets with an attitude.This wry cartoon features Rob Wilco, a mild-mannered ad guy who's guardian to two rambunctious pets:Bucky, a temperamental cat who carries a boom box and goes on spending sprees, and Satchel, a gentle canine who tries to remain neutral even when he bears the brunt of Bucky's mischief.Together, this unlikely trio hang out together, watching TV, cooking for friends, and attempting the occasional adventure outside.Anyone who has a pet or even knows one will find Get Fuzzy an astutely witty take on relationships between the species. ... Read more

Reviews (118)

Meet "Get Fuzzy" - you will never regret it.
I couldn't believe the comic strip. I actually laughed out loud at Bucky, Satchel and Rob's irrepressible antics. The comic strip was the first thing I looked at when I opened the paper in the morning.

Then - while browsing at a book store - I found it . . ."Get Fuzzy: The Dog is Not a Toy (House Rule #4)," Darby Conley's first book. Yes Virginia. . .there is a Santa Claus!

If you haven't met Bucky, Satchel and Rob yet, this book is a great introduction to the threesome. Bucky the cat is so irritating, he's lovable. Satchel, the mixed breed canine, has a heart of gold and gives everyone - even Bucky - the benefit of the doubt. Their human, Rob, is the glue that holds everything together.

In no time at all you'll be believing the three are real and you'll wish they lived next door to you. Don't miss this opportunity to laugh out loud.

Infectious Giggles for Pet Owners
"Get Fuzzy" chronicles the day to day life of Rob and his "friends" (pets) Bucky, the psychotic (is there any other kind?) cat and his hapless, loveable shar-pei Satchel. This comic is the most precise, dead on accurate portrayals of pet life ever written. Artistically, "Get Fuzzy" is one of the most detailed comics out there (artists and other funky people will love Conley's attention to detail - like lamps that are plugged in, slogans on shirts) and really well drawn (check out Bucky's little belly and alarmingly astute facial expressions). Sometimes he doesn't even need words and you will be rolling on the floor laughing. But he uses words well, too. My favorite aspect of the comic is that the character development is extremely advanced. Satchel, Rob and Bucky (and even Rob's dad and my favorite character, Joe Doman)have distinct, hysterically funny and spot-on personalities. Almost every strip of "Get Fuzzy" gets a laugh ... but funny though it is, it is also poignant. Satchel, an innocent in a mad, mad world, offers moments of "Oh, Satchel!" when you remember that pets aren't just for entertainment, they're part of a symbiotic relationship - we need them, and they need us. In short, I LOVE GET FUZZY. I am the proud owner of a Satchel and a female-Bucky (I know, you pity me yet you are strangely drawn to my world) and I discovered "Get Fuzzy" last year. Any pet owner should read this comic - not only are you not alone, you are in great company!

Funniest comic strip today!
Get Fuzzy is simply the best comic strip around. The trio of Bucky Katt, Rob, and Satchel creates some of the most engaging humor in today's newspapers. When I first read the strip when Bucky destroys the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll that was laughing at him, I was hooked. I'm not a cat person, but as was said in a recent Pearls Before Swine: Bucky Katt Rocks!

The reason I get up in the morning.
As a kid, I went straight to the newspaper every morning and read the comics. Like everyone else, The Far Side and Calvin were my favorites, but I also enjoyed Garfield, Beetle Bailey, and the others. As I grew up, the two truly funny comics (The Far Side and Calvin) were retired from the paper and I began to realize that Garfield Beetle Bailey and most of the others were only funny if you had no more than a 4th grade education. There was no innovation or storyline and the artists were just rehashing the same old sight gags and puns every day. I quit reading the comics.

Then came Get Fuzzy in my LA Times, and whoa, life is good again. Get Fuzzy is the freshest, funniest, and most sarcastic comic written in years. I really look forward to reading it in the morning, and (yes, I know I'm a little geeky about this) sometimes I even go online late at night (early in the am) to comics.com and read what happens the next day.

Thank you Darby Conley.

Garfield started the War between Cats and Dogs, but...
Bucky and Satchel perfected it! As the Garfield comic strip has gotten older, we've seen Jim Davis struggle to keep it fresh. Don't get me wrong, I own every single garfield book out there, but Get Fuzzy has definitely come into it's own as a successor to the throne. The adventures of Rob, with Bucky and Satchel are even funnier then Garfield, because in contrast to Garfield, Bucky and Satchel actually can talk and interact to humans. They are very up to date with the times, and will talk about issues that happen in real life in the strip quite often. One of my favorite strips is the one where Rob won't give up his Red Sox hat to Bucky, so Bucky goes out into the world and finds a Yankees hat much to Rob's mismay. As a Red Sox fan, I love how Conley is a huge Red Sox fan and portrays that in his work. As I've grown up, Garfield has grown with me, but now I feel I've grown out of that and into Get Fuzzy. Highly recommended for a good laugh! ... Read more

Book Description

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled: there is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living. This volume follows our band of survivors as they set up a permanent camp inside a prison. Relationships change, characters die, and our team of survivors learn there's something far more deadly than zombies out there: each other. ... Read more

Book Description

"Keep this cartoon book with Dr. Spock and all the other baby-care tomes.... You'll like the whole book." --Booklist

Reviews (10)

Delicious!, A must have for all parents!
This book chronicles The macphersons first year at raising a family. It is one of many Baby blues collections and provides humourous and touching insights on raising children. From Darryl sticking the daiper shut with Post-it-Notes to to the baby sitter running out of the house screaming that she's going to have her tubes tied, this is the perfect book for those stressfull midnight feedings.

If you missed the early ones, get this book!
"Baby Blues : This is Going to be Harder Than We Thought" is the first book of the series and a must for "Baby Blues" fans. You can really see how much this comic strip has evolved, but yet, some things will never change. With great expressions and witty lines, it will have you smirking in no time. I recommend.

A must have book for all parents and kids!!
I got this book about 3 months ago, and I loved it! It shows you that parenting isn't the most easiest thing in the world. This book has lots of laughs and good times in it. So if you want lots of laughs (100 percent guranteed) then get this wonderful book!

True to Life!
I have been a fan of Baby Blues since my daughter was born, eight years ago. I sometimes think that Mr. Kirkman and Mr. Scott hide outside my windows and take notes, because so many of their strips are right on the mark! If you have small children, are thinking about having small children, or just want a good belly laugh, I highly recommend the entire series of Baby Blues collections. Enjoy!

The best gift for new parents you'll find...
We received this as a gift from friends when we had our first child, and could not stop laughing as we gained a new appreciation for what it meant to be parents. Whether you're new parents, know someone who is, or have been parents for years and want to remember what it was *really* like, this book needs to be on your list.

We've now given this book as a gift to four other couples who've had babies recently, and all agree that it's their favorite new book on the shelf. It covers everything - changing the first diaper, the first visits from the parents (both sets), sleepless nights, and the joy of teething, to mention a few.

Buy this book. You'll laugh for a long time, and will probably end up sharing it with your other friends fortunate enough to have kids of their own. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A solid introduction to the pencilling end of comic books
"The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics" by Klaus Janson introduces wannabee comic book artists and fans of the art form to a more detailed appreciation of what goes into drawing pages for "Batman" than they will have picked up through osmosis or imitation to date. Janson divides the fifteen chapters in this volume into three parts focusing on Drawing, Storytelling, and Pencilling designed to provide an introduction to one of the most difficult of art forms:

Part One Drawing: (1) Materials outlines what supplies an artist needs in terms of paper, pencils, erasers, rulers and templates; (2) Shapes are presented as the foundation of the creative process of drawing, the general concept from which the artist moves to more specific ones; (3) Faces looks at both the basic geometric elements in composing a face and the artistic range available through example of faces drawn by Joe Kubert, Gil Kane, and Neal Adams; (4) Anatomy covers both the structure and design of the human body, including all the muscles, with special attention paid to the most difficult thing in the world to draw, the hands; (5) Clothing establishes the four basic dynamics that shape the folds and wrinkles of a person's clothing; and (6) Perspective, which is covered from the fundamentals to the use of vanishing points and systems of perspective. This unit is the most instructive in the book since it deals with the basic building blocks.

Part Two Storytelling: (7) Juxtaposition establishes the uniqueness of comic book art in terms of how sequential art functions in the eyes of the reader, featuring diverse examples by Eduardo Risso, Sean Phillips, and Dave Taylor; (8) How to Lay Out a Page starts with the grid approach and then moves to the free-form end of the spectrum, starting with an example by Jack Kirby and then moving on to some by Neal Adams and Walt Simonson. Janson explains the value of insert panel and breaking borders, along with the larger pictures need for covers, splash pages, and double-page spreads; (9) Storytelling is considered as being judged by the criteria of clarity and entertainment, just like telling a joke; (10) Composition takes us down to the level of individual frames, looking at how the process of combining elements together to form a united whole; (11) Shots and Angles parallels what we know about such things from cinematography; and (12) Movement examines the one inherent disadvantage of comic art, which is trying to show movement in a static image.

Part Three Pencilling: (13) Procedure lays out how most comic books are written, so you can see where the penciller comes into the process; (14) Breaking In has Janson offering advice on how to break into the business in a professional manner; and (15) Anatomy of a Story has Janson walking us through the drawing of "Good Evening, Midnight," a story he wrote and drew for "Batman Black and White" #3.

"The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics" provides exactly what it promises: a clear-cut introduction to the fundamentals of drawing comic books. As to the fact that the vast majority of illustration examples in this volume are not pencilled but inked, I would point out a couple of pragmatic facts that would explain why. First, inked examples look better than pencilled examples. Second, given that Janson is using examples from real DC Comics, these are covers and pages of art that are already inked. Still, I would agree that more examples of pencilled art would have been nice, although I certainly like what Janson does in Chapter 15, "Anatomy of a Story," where we see layouts, pencilled, and inked pages side-by-side to have a full appreciation of the transformation wrought by the inker.

The companion volume to this work, "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics," is authored by Dennis O'Neil. Along with Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics," as well as Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art" and "Graphic Storytelling," and John Buscema's "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way," these two DC volumes are worthy additions to the limited library that every aspiring comic book writer/artist should have next to their computer/drawing table.

Filled with examples from Janson's own successful work
Aspiring cartoonists and comic artists of all ages will welcome DC Comics Guide To Pencilling Comics, an inspirational guide, penned by Klaus Janson, a comic book artist with over thirty years of experience. From creating effective and smooth visual communication sequences to learning about borders and completion processes, DC Comics Guide To Pencilling Comics is filled with examples from Janson's own successful work.

Hmmm... more ink work than pencil here...
All right, I have to admit that in terms of attempts to lay down solid info about composition, layout, and some basics of linework, the book isn't terrible. But... I had to laugh when flipping through a copy. There were more inked examples than pencilled. Ummm....
I know that Klaus has got some skill, and some of the folks who have pencilled for DC, I work with a couple, have done some amazing work. Still, this doesn't have much about the quality of work I am used to seeing from some of their past great pencillers. That is, not visually anyway, and isn't that what this was supposed to be about? Visuals? How to use tones, what you convey to an inker in the way you block in forms and indicate depth, shadow (which reveals your form, light only helps with color), and the infinite variety of line work. The necessity of knowing anatomy, light and perspective and how to use them effectively in a comic format.
Haven't read the entire book, so I can't say if the reasons for the amount of inked examples are ever spelled out, but I had to keep looking at the cover/title of the book to be sure I was holding the volume dedicated to pencils...

A review from a fan....
I'm a huge fan of Klaus Janson, and this book gives me incrediable insight as to how he creates thes amazing works of art.

Great concepts, though not a "how-to" book
This book is really split into two major parts: figure drawing and storytelling. The former is treated very lightly and only hits the high points of anatomy, but there are some tremendous illustrations within. Buy Elliot Goldfinger's "Human Anatomy for Artists" if this is what you're looking for.

The storytelling section is the real core of this book, however. Janson really doesn't present particularly new or revolutionary ideas (for that see Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art), but he does clearly explain the concepts of composition, balance, contrast and reader eye movement. Honestly, I felt like there was so much more that could have been said on each of these and the dozen other topics within. Clearly Janson knows what he is talking about as each subject is supported by actual DC comic book examples (covering a lot of genres over the last 30 years, so this is not just aimed at current comic book styles).

There is a third section called "Pencilling", but it is more of an appendix of notes such as how to talk to editors and present your portfolio. Janson also breaks down a short Batman story he wrote and illustrated, showing thumbnail sketches and reference photos along the way - very insightful.

Klaus Janson is a tremendous artist with an energetic style, which is exemplified by his inking (see Frank Miller's Daredevil or The Dark Knight Returns as examples). There are over 200 illustrations within, about one third are Janson's. ... Read more

Book Description

In the grand tradition of Krazy Kat & Ignatz Mouse and the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, the Spies (one dressed in black, the other in white) are an endless variation on a Cold War theme—forever one-upping the other, til death do they part. This diabolical duo of double-cross and deceit are, as Art Spiegelman described them in The New York Times Magazine, “the comic strip equivalent of the yin-and-yang symbol, good and evil, interdependent and inter- changeable,...forever chasing each other’s tails.”

2001 marks the 40th anniversary of Spy vs. Spy, which made its first appearance in MAD #60, January 1961. The feature has run in virtually every issue since with nearly 1000 installments. Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook chronicles the creation and history of the Spies and features all 247 of the strips written and illustrated by its illustrious creator, Antonio Prohias.

Delighted fans will discover a virtual treasure trove of fun-loving Spy vs. Spy material. Here for the first time are unpublished and never-before-seen preliminary sketches and artist roughs, photographs from his family scrapbooks, and rare political cartoons. Also included are eight biographical and historical essays, each detailing a different aspect and perspective on the Spies and their creator. A special color section reproduces dozens of Spy collectibles from over the years, including paperbacks, Super Specials, computer games, trading cards, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Extra material puts this book over the top.
I'd give this book 5 stars regardless, because I've always loved Spy v Spy -- and this book delivers the goods: Every Spy v Spy Prohias worked on in his life.

But, what REALLY sets this book apart is the the wealth of OTHER material: His other MAD features, cover ideas, and a lot of biographical information covering his life in Cuba and the comics he did there. How many of MAD's contributors can say they were chased out of Cuba by an angry mob (with Fidel himself leading the pack)?

But, the bottom line is the material: If you like Spy v Spy, you'll love this book. The extra material is just icing (albeit extremely intersting and diverting icing) on the cake.

The Usual Gang Of Idiots
This is a great collection of spy vs. spy cartoons. It took me nearly 4 hours to read it all. If you have been a fan of mad magazine you will love this book. It is at a reasonable price too, so I recommend to buy!!!

Joke & Dagger Rules!
I just barely got the book today and finished every page because I was hooked. I love Spy Vs Spy, my number one reason of collecting MAD is the Spy Vs Spy comics and collectibles. My favorite strip is the one where both of them get runned down by soldiers. True classic to Antonio Prophias and his wonderful drawings. This book is highly recommended!!

PROHIAS WAS A RARE SPIRIT
In my early MAD Magazine days, I naturally took to the more visually-oriented stuff (Don Martin, Aragones's "drawn-out dramas," etc.); the movie & TV satires I didn't graduate to till I began actually watching the stuff they satirized. Among the former things above, Antonio Prohias's iconic spies ruled the day.
I know the strip wasn't to everyone's taste; I guess it's a matter of being reared in the uninihibitedly-violent era of cartoon humor I grew up in. Indeed, there's something rather childish about the bonk-about retaliation engaged in by Prohias's venerable creations (I'll confess- I was always rooting for the White Spy!!--I guess he fought DIRTIER).
But there's another side to Prohias many will find relevatory. He fled to the US from Cuba in 1959 to escape arrest & execution by Castro; this book does show us his earlier strip, "Tovarich," depicting a despicable Soviet dictator meant as indirect reference to the situation of Prohias's native country. Other entries in this book show "one-shot" cartoons he did for MAD: One such article is "The Pearl." Not many have seen this cartoon, but its 2 pages are potent stuff indeed. It's an incredible story of a deep-sea diver who kills an octopus to claim a pearl; the diver's pummelled by a one-eyed old salt, who rides the high seas and whose lifeless hand provides a sunbather with the stolen clam; the sunbather's given one too many strong drinks by a floozy, who nabs the clam; she's shot to death by the bartender. He breaks open the clam, only to find a paper advertisement for Earl's Pearl Shop!
Powerful stuff, and you'll see more of the same in "Spy Vs. Spy--The Complete Casebook." He's no longer with us, but Prohias's work collectively tells us a whole lot about human greed and oppression.

...vs. Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy...
I always loved Mad Magazine, whether it was for its sometimes brilliant satires or just for its whacky zaniness. But Spy vs. Spy has always been my least favourite of its features. There is some creativity at first in its Rube Goldbergesque depiction of complex schemes involving cross and double-cross. However, try reading more than 5 of the strips in one sitting and the repetition of its themes becomes more and more unbearable.

Perhaps it was a brilliant attempt at metafiction with the goal of illustrating the pointlessness of violence through its repetition, or an illustration of the nature of intelligence agencies whose sole raison d'etre appears to be to create and sustain their own enemies in order to perpetuate their existence (look up the histories of Reinhard Gehlen, Batista, the Shah of Iran, Air America, Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein to learn how the CIA has contributed to the world). Or perhaps the total interchangeability of its characters belies the absurdity of the world's conflicts which are all rooted in meaningless trivialities (skin colour, religion, nationality, etc). However, having read reprints of some of Prohias' unsophisticated (albeit extremely courageous)political cartoons from when he was still a resident of Castro's Cuba, this would appear highly unlikely.

Any one of Sergio Aragone's "marginal drawings" from Mad has far more contextual complexity than every Spy vs. Spy strip put together. ... Read more

Book Description

Whether she's weaving hilarious, sprawling tales while babysitting the terrible tot Alvin, keeping her chubby chum Tubby and his clubhouse cronies in line, or making nice with the friendly ghost she catches reading "People Stories" in her bedroom, Little Lulu is both "Everygirl" and an undeniable one-of-a-kind! Dark Horse Books is proud to present, for the first time ever, the complete run of John Stanley and Irving Tripp's legendary run of classic Marge's Little Lulu comics in convenient, reader-friendly paperback volumes. Critically acclaimed and widely regarded as one of the most classic comics ever published, Little Lulu is an all-ages treasure, with stories funny and fresh enough to stand the test of time. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

First 5 Little Lulu Comics
While this is 'volume 3' of Dark Horse Comics' reprint series of Little Lulu, it actual reprints the first 5 of the 10 "Four Color" Little Lulu comics (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120) which were published before Little Lulu got her own title.Hopefully volume 4 of the series will reprint the last 5 of the Four Color issues. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Catastrophic, world-altering events like the September 11 attacks on the United States place the millions of us who experience them on the "fault line where World History and Personal History collide." Most of us, however, cannot document that intersection with the force, compression, and poignancy expressed in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, cartoonist Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary of his experience of September 11 and its aftermath. In 10 large-scale pages of original, hard hitting material (composed from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2003), two essays, and 10 old comic strip reproductions from the early 20th century, Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks---and the subsequent "hijacking" of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda. Readers who agree with Spiegelman's point of view will marvel at the brilliance of his images and the wit and accuracy of his commentary. Others, no doubt, will be jolted by his candor and, perhaps, be challenged to reexamine their position.

The central image in the sequence of original broadsides, which returns as a leitmotif in each strip, is Spiegelman's Impressionistic "vision of disintegration," of the North Tower, its "glowing bones...just before it vaporized." (As downtown New Yorkers, Spiegelman and his family experienced the event firsthand.) But the images and styles in the book are as fragmentary and ever-shifting as Spiegelman's reflections and reactions. The author's closing comment that "The towers have come to loom far larger than life...but they seem to get smaller every day" reflects a larger and more chilling irony that permeates In the Shadow of No Towers. Despite the ephemeral nature of the comic strip form, the old comics at the back of the book have outlasted the seemingly indestructible towers. In the same way, Spiegelman's heartfelt impressions have immortalized the towers that, imponderably, have now vanished. --Silvana Tropea ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Best Comic since Far Side and Calvin And Hobbes disappeared
I loved the book, and i have read every single boondocks cartoon since its debut. For anyone who misses Calvin and Hobbes, and wants something similar to doonesbury, this comic strip is for you. You dont need to be black to understand the messages of this book, or find it amusing. I am white, and completely unconnected to hip-hop, and i loved it. McGruder tackles major issues with a wonderful mix of satire and fantasy. Whether Riley is attacking people with a toy lightsaber, or Huey is attempting to get out of yard work, this book is fun and a great read. The strip turns some people away because it has sparked controversy. People have been upset that Huey has not blindly followed his government and gone a' warmongering since 9/11. The alternative to a controversial comic strip is yes, you guessed it, the dreaded FAMILY CIRCUS!!!!! FREE JOLLY JENKINS!!!!!!!

Needed Now more than ever in a Bush administration
The subtitle of the book is "Because I Know You Don't Read The Newspaper." Well, I read the newspaper, but as a committed reader of The New York Times, I don't have the opportunity to read the daily comic strips (since the NYT contains no syndicated daily strips). But I heard about The Boondocks and bought the book. What can I say? If there was a Mount Rushmore for cartoonists, Mr, McGruder belongs there. Not only are the strips funny, witty, and biting, but as a graduate of social and cultural analysis studies at Maryland, his perceptions are dead on. As McGruder writes, "the truth hurts." It hurts because your stomach hurts so bad from the laughing. Who else would think of putting an insulting blurb from the President of BET on the back cover of the book, if not a genius? As was written above and below, Huey and Riley Freeman move with their grandfather to the white suburbs of Woodcrest from downtown Chicago. It's their grandfather's dream and 40 acres, but Huey thinks that he is the mule. It is a town where the grammar school is named for J Edgar Hoover, and the junior high is named for George Wallace (or so Huey's grandfather mused). Riley's teacher was a nun and worked in a prison before becoming a teacher. Huey and Riley's neighbors include an interracial couple, their daughter, and a naïve white girl. Huey and Riley work hard to keep it real, but your laughs will come easy. I can't wait a next volume. I hope it includes Huey, Caesar and Mr. Tom Dubois' debate over Kwanzaa (budget Hanukkah? or a perpetuation of a fallacy of monolithic African culture?) Where is the line a Boondock's greeting cards?

McGruder's Best
The Boondocks is without a doubt, my favorite comic strip. Aaron McGruder is at his best in the beginning of the Boondocks series, when the strips didn't just center around politics. The transition from the inner city of Chicago to mostly white suburbs is shown with biting and brillant humor through the eyes of ten year old Huey Freeman. Mocking everything from the NAACP to BET to world leaders, McGruder makes Huey seem very observant and intelligent, without becoming too much of a smart aleck.

Where he's coming from:
I have followed the comic strip for sometime. I continue to enjoy it more and more as the author/artist continues to tackle each current events issue.

I saw the artist on C-Span some months ago address an audience of high school aged young achiever/future leaders.
The message he delivered and the values he espouses are intelligent and analytical.

He is (please pardon the lame media label) a new millenium
Alan Ginsburg (?) with his own version of "Question Authority & Think for Yourself" .

I KNOW WHO OTIS REDDING IS
I was lucky enough to run across this strip early on in it's existence (mid '99). I was about ready to give up on the daily comics as it'd become pretty much a bland wasteland of tired, generic space filler in the absence of Calvin & Hobbes. What a breath of fresh air McGruder has turned out to be. This is an excellent first collection of his groundbreaking daily strips. On his dedication page, he mentions Breathed, Schultz, Trudeau, and Watterson. In the future, I can see him being mentioned in the same breath. Now if only he would make the animated Kwanzaa special that he has Tom DuBois lamenting that Sparky will never get to. By the way Aaron, we always called it "BPT" not "CPT" (page 115). ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This book am so funny me cried.
This is the sequel to the Bizarro Comics anthology from a few years ago.Like that book, this one features "alternative comics" types doing their versions of DC superhero comics.There are some great comics here, and also some not-so-great comics.But almost all of the comics are at least interesting.One thing I have to say is that you really need to be a fan of DC comics in order to understand the references in many of these stories.I don't think someone who is not into superheroes will get very much out of this book.But for those of us who do like superheroes, it's a lot of fun.

This book rocks!
Man, I am glad I picked this one up! I bought the first Bizarro book in softback format, and so I figured I'd order this one when it came out, and it is every bit as good as the first one IF NOT BETTER!

It's really well produced book, nice thick pages and good color.
As far as stories and art goes, DC again paired up underground/alternative cartoonists with each otther (one writing and one drawing) to hilarious and/or strange outcomes. But it works, though!

I think the best story in the book is either Batman & Monkey by M. Wartella, or Tony Millionaire's Batman. I guess it looks like I'm biased towards Batman, but I'm not. I like Wonder Woman best of all. But back to Bizarro World... other notable sections of the book were drawn by James Kochalka, Jason Paulus, Bagge/Hernandez, Rick Altergott, and Evin Dorkin.

Some things I DIDN't like about this book: The cover pales in comparison to Groening's on Vol.1. and some of the art is actually piss-poor (notably Kyle Baker, Brian Ralph, Michael Kupperman, and Scott Morse), looking like the artists spent, like, one hungover morning working on the art and just rushed it in.

Actually, there are a few other good stories
worth mentioning by Hunt Emerson, Ellen Forney, Tim Laine, & Danny Hellman. And how can I not mention excellents scripts by Peter Bagge, Harvey Pekar, Evan Dorkin (+++),uh... and others I can't seem to locate write now.

Oh, one other thing. Notably absent are these people who appeared in the first anthology and for some reason (idiocy?) were not in this vol.2:Stephen DeStephano, Bill Wray, Ariel Bordeaux, and, as I mentioned earlier, Matt Groening!

OK, so that's enough of my yappin'. BUY THIS NOOK!

Less than the first but still great
Bizarro World had a lot to live up to following in the footsteps of the award winning Bizarro released several years ago and well... it fell short. The new Bizarro book is excellent but just not as memorable as the original. The Bizarro books (can it now be called a series?) use popular alternative cartoonists to create short stories featuring characters from the DC universe from icons like Superman to obscure characters like Kamandi.

Here are some of my favorite stories from Bizarro World.

In "The Wonder of it All" a high school aged Wonder Woman learns that using her new Golden Lasso to force her friends to give their honest opinions about her nets her more information than she wanted.

The Spectre/Jim Corrigan unleashes his ghostly vengeance on his fellow officers at the police station for such minor infractions as hogging the copy machine. It's actually pretty funny.

Green Lantern has a revelation about his weakness to the color yellow in "It's not Easy Being Green". The story seems like a homage to the old EC Mad magazine comics.

In "The Power of Positive Batman" Bruce Wayne finally resolves his issues with the murder of his parents and decides to retire and sail around the world. Clark Kent decides to join him and the two sail off.

Aquaman decides to attend open mic night and sing a song about his relationship with Mera. Like a lot of the stories this one is just sort of a slice of life tale showing the private lives of superheroes.

Tony Millionaire returns with another strange Batman story. His art has a very old gothic style to it as if the story were something dug up from the 40's rather than a brand new tale.

In "Personal Shopper", Alfred is out describing, to a mechanic, the specifications for a car he wants to purchase. You know, bulletproof, 200 MPH, space for rocket launchers, huge bat like fins on the rear. Wonder who that might be for?

There are also some clunkers in the batch. Lantern Sentai in particular seemed pointless besides showing the Lantern Corps as Manga. In "Jing Kal-El" the Superman origin is rewritten with Kal landing at the North Pole and taking on the mantle of Santa Claus. I just couldn't figure out why. Some of the stories just stopped as if they're meant to be continued in another edition of Bizarro. "Bizarro Schmizarro", for instance has Luthor change Bizarro no. 1024 into a normal looking Superman (save for the Question mark on his chest) and then the story stops with a promise of more to come.

Bizarro World is sometimes great and sometimes not so great. It's less than the original book but I still recommend it. The Bizarro series has a long way to fall before it can be considered average.

Better than the first!!!! Me am like!!!
This second collection of stories (the first being Bizarro Comics) again turns DCs icons over to some of today's best alternate cartoonists and is a very enjoyable romp through the DC Universe. Take underground comics, your favoite DC comics, old Mad Magazines and your favorite strips from your local alternate newspaper, blend and this is what you get.

The framing sequence with Bizarro was more enjoyable to me than in the first one and seemed to blend in better with the rest of the volume.

The book seemed a little heavy on Batman stories, but don't worry there are a broad range of characters that get the "Bizarro treatment". The tales ranged from homage, to parody, to satire to dope dreams to slice of life pieces that would almost (heavy on that word) be welcome in a regular DC comic or annual.

Particular standouts were:

Tony Millionaire taking on Batman again in a story thatevokes a 1930's Batman feel.

A Legion of Super-Heroes tale where a corporation driven Brainiac Five drives the Legion to rebellion. The story and art makes you think Kurt Swan and Shooter could have drawn and written this on some crazy rainy night.

Evan Dorkins and John Krewson turn Kamandi into a slacker who'd rather veg out than help talking tigers, and lions and apes (oh my!).

This volume was fun. The hits far outweighed the misses. If you did not like one story don't worry the next one will be along soon.

Well worth it. ... Read more

Book Description

Alan Moore follows his Eisner Award-winning "The Story of the Year" supreme script with "The Return," presented here in its entirety for the first time.Featuring the art of Chris Sprouse (Tom Strong) and ingenious flash-back sequences by Rick Veitch.Plus, cameos by Gil Kane and Jim Starlin. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Further campy, postmodernist Superman stories.
More stories after the pattern of the previous volume (STORY OF THE YEAR), though this one takes itself even less seriously than the first. Also, it's more self-referential, several stories here focusing on the concept of comicbook characters existing within a comicbook continuity. Moore explores this sort of idea further with the PROMETHEA series, several years later.

I gave this volume one star more than I gave STORY OF THE YEAR, mostly because the reprinting looked just a little clearer (though not as good as the original comics) and because this book contains fewer of those 8-page Silver Age flashback sequences that we saw so much of in the first volume. The first 3 or 4 of those things were clever, but after reading several over a period of a few days, they start to get on your nerves.

I can recommend this one (and its predecessor) to people who are fans of the Mort Weisinger/Julie Schwartz-era Superman comics. Also to the tons of Alan Moore fans, but they likely don't need any recommendation.

Oh, by the way, the primary artist in this book is actually Chris Sprouse, not Joe Bennett like it says in Amazon's title section.

Pretty good stuff (for the right reader)
This trade collects the last 10 issues of Moore's run on Supreme. Unfortunately, the series was canceled before the storyline was properly concluded, but still this is an enjoyable read for superhero fans.

Moore's Supreme series is basically an homage and parody of Superman- unlike the first "Story of the Year" storyline, though, "Return" has far fewer flashback stories-I actually enjoy the meticulous recreations of 50s and 60s-style stories, but I know it annoyed some readers. Also, the printing quality of Return is pretty good-unlike the first volume

I'm really more a fan of Moore's early work (Halo Jones, Miracleman and Watchmen). However, as a person who at least appreciates Superman, Supreme is a lot of fun. I certainly liked it a lot more than "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (both are period pieces, but Supreme has a more entertaining storyline). ... Read more

Book Description

In Spring City, where super-heroes blur the lines between law enforcement and celebrity, Pearl Penalosa, a.k.a. Ultra, is a workaholic. At the prestigious agency, Heroine Inc., she has earned a legion of fans, a nomination for "Best Heroine of the Year" and a perfect life. Well, almost perfect. A chance encounter with a mysterious fortune teller prophesizes true love for Pearl within seven days. ...